Cheese, Almond & Thyme Stuffed Olives

I. Love. Olives.
When I was younger, I used to pull them straight out of the can, place one neatly on each of my finger tips, bask for a short while in my glee as I likened myself to a tree frog with sticky finger pads, and finally, chomp the salty goodness off, one by one.
Slowly, I learned to love green olives, as well.  Especially when stuffed with a crunchy, garlic-y blend of cheese.  I know plenty of people who don't care for olives, but after tasting these, I have serious trouble comprehending those beliefs.  Bomb.

You will need:

1 jar medium-sized green olives, pitted
1/2 cup cream cheese
1/2 cup Saint Andre Triple Cream Soft-Ripened Cheese
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1/2 cup almonds, unsalted and roasted
8 sprigs fresh thyme
1/2 tsp. black pepper

First, drain olives and set aside in bowl.

Place cheeses in bowl, and add crushed garlic, finely chopped almonds, pepper, and thyme.

Mix together until very soft and pliable.

I don't have a pastry bag, so at this point, I just spooned the mixture into the corner of a ziploc bag and cut off one of the edges.

Now you are free to squeeze the mixture into the pit of the olives.  This is also the time at which you might realize the importance of chopping the almonds small enough to get through the opening.  Don't chop them too small though, otherwise you'll miss out on the texture the nuts bring to plate!

I know, I know..my hands look enormous.  They were little olives, okay?

Like tiny soldiers all in a row.

It is actually kind of tricky to present these nicely, because they don't tend to balance very well.  I found a butter dish that had a lip all the way around, which worked perfectly.

Yum!

Bay2Breakers!

This weekend, I made the trek up to San Francisco for the highly anticipated Bay2Breakers race.  I'm friends with quite a few guys who run for a professional team, so I hitched a ride with them.  I had fully intended to run the race with two of my girlfriends, but after a late night of drinking wine and catching up, we decided that it might be in the best interest of us all, if we just dressed up and joined the festivities on the streets of San Francisco after the race. 

My friends, who run for the Asics Aggies, got first place as a team, which was just one more very good reason to celebrate.  After they crossed the finish line, we all met up for beers in Golden Gate Park and walked to the Panhandle for some prime people-watching material.

The city was in a state of madness.  I saw the Super Mario Brothers, complete with race cars (on two separate occasions), more tutus in every color of the rainbow than I thought was possible, a gang of skunks, a naked Batman character, and many happy, slightly buzzed runners with their thumbs up in anticipation of the finish line.

I apologize in advance for the grainy quality of these photos.  I didn't bring my camera onto the streets, so phone shots will have to do!

Here we are in all our blinding glory, ready to take on the day at 8am!

We took full advantage of the bus stop wait to get some air (....see what I did there?).

Here are the boys crossing the finish line.  They came in at a time of 40:03...that's about 5:35 mile pace.  Quite impressive!

Based on our experiences, I would say the most important rules of thumb to keep in mind as a B2B festivities participant are to have cash on hand for the bus (they don't give change) and use the restroom before you leave the house.  The bus schedules were totally screwy because of the mass amounts of people packing themselves on to each one, so you actually might be better off taking a cab next year.

We had such a great time gallivanting through the city.  The character of San Francisco really shines through in full force during events like this one, because everyone participates!  The locals are so sweet and helpful.  We needed directions a few times, and everyone we spoke to was excessively kind and considerate toward the newbs in town.

This is one of my best friends, B.  We've known each other since 7th grade (that's since we were about 13 in  the US). He runs for fun...but I guess he's still pretty cool.

 This looks like a good patch of dirt for a mid-day rest...

After an overdose of sun exposure, cheap beer, and high fives from complete strangers dressed as tacos, Kelly and I headed back toward her place.

We were both craving cheeseburgers, so we stopped in at a cute little diner in Nob Hill called Toast.  
We sat across from each other, bleary-eyed and reminiscent of the fun day we had experienced, taking note of the occasional Bay2Breakers warrior making his way home in costume.

I absolutely love San Francisco, and events like this one make me wish I lived there even more.  Maybe one day I'll make the controversial move from Southern to Northern California, but until then, "See you next year, you pretty thing, you!"


*Race photo from Bay2Breakers website

Diet Coke T-Shirt Design Challenge

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So, I don't usually post about contests or challenges. Or Diet Coke for that matter. But this design challenge actually seems doable and fun.  And if you win, you could have a nice wad of cash fed to your wallet, even if you're a runner up.
So, what's the low-down?  I'm getting there.

From what I gather, all contestants submit their designs by May 31st.  Those submissions then get reviewed by corporate, and the top 20 from the first round get featured on a voting website (I assume this is when you'd enlist your friends and family to repeatedly submit votes for your design). Finally (this is the best part), in the last round, the top ten ranked t-shirts from the previous round will be given to a panel of judges, including Rebecca Minkoff (!) to vote for the most winning t-shirt design.

I sort of rushed through the details, but a more thorough brief can be found here. The winner will also get flown to Nashville to meet Taylor Swift (...), and have his or her t-shirt sold at Target in the fall.
For all of you budding fashionistas, designers, and creative minds alike, I feel like this is an amazing opportunity. Talk about exposure!

This is the winning design from last year:

It's not rocket science, it's a t-shirt, right?

The deadline for entry is in two weeks, so you've got lots of time to think up some amazing, original, creative designs.

Let me know if you decide to enter.  I would love to see what magic you've got hidden up your sleeve!



*Photos from Target website

Pixie Love

For the past two weeks, I've had a head cold latching on to me for dear life. Things might be a lot more enjoyable for me if it would just leave and never come back, but there is an upside to the little monster hanging around.
It apparently makes me crave vitamin C like there's no tomorrow (if you couldn't already tell from yesterday's post), which happens to be included in tons of my favorite foods.

Including, but not limited to, these bad boys:

These, my friend, are called Pixie Tangerines.  They're sort of a legacy in my hometown, and my best friend happens to have a VIP pass to one of the best orchards around.
You see, Rachel's grandpa used to own a local Christmas tree farm, but once he realized that pixies are snatched up like edible gold in these parts, he nixed the original business and began growing the dynamic duo, the Kate and William of produce: avocados and tangerines.

We had to enter the secret code for the gate and everything! No big deal.
Anyway, upon setting foot onto the property, we rushed up the hill with bags in hand, intending wholeheartedly to fill them to the brim with our loot.

These plants line the entryway.  I love their whimsical looks.

We brought Baby O along too.  He also answers to the very humble title of 'Snail Hunter Extraordinaire'.  Isn't he cute enough to eat?

I felt a little greedy picking all of those tangerines for myself...but that feeling didn't last long.  Come to me!

"A picture?  Okay, but make it quick.  I have shoes to get muddy and snails to hunt!"

We may or may not have taken some avocados as well...

Of course we did.
Shhhhh.

Lavender Tangerine Sangria

I was driving home from a work meeting this afternoon with the windows down in the 100+ degree weather, and all I could think about was laying out with a cold, delicious, alcoholic beverage in hand.  As soon as I got home, I picked some tangerines from the tree in my backyard, wandered around the garden looking for a fragrant, herby something to add to my concoction, and then it happened.
I had an epiphany.  Maybe one of the best ideas I've ever had.
Lavender Tangerine Sangria.

Why had I never tried this before?  Refreshing, tangy, and sweet all at once.  Mmmm.

You will need:

10 tangerines
1/2 cup of sugar
3 oz. brandy
1 bottle white wine (I used chardonnay)
1 11 oz. bottle lime-flavored Perrier
1 cup peach nectar
8 lavender sprigs
zest from one tangerine


First, slice five of the tangerines into rounds and add them to pitcher.  Then, add sugar, brandy, and zest to pitcher, letting the tangerines marinade.  Juice the remaining tangerines and add to the brandy mixture.

Next add peach nectar, Perrier, and wine to the marinading tangerines.

This is a good point to taste your mixture to see if you like the sweetness level.  If it's too sweet for you, feel free to add more wine or sparkling water.

Once your sangria's got your taste buds humming, add the lavender sprigs to make them start singing like Pavarotti.  Let set for about ten minutes, allowing the lavender to infuse.
Add ice, stir, and serve.

My friend Andi and I sat outside in the sun pleasantly buzzed with our feet in the pool, dishing about boys, our weekend plans, and life in general.

I think I actually lived the afternoon I was dreaming about on my drive home today.
Don't you love when that happens?

Strawberries and Cream Scones

As I was scrolling through my twitter account this morning, I uncovered some very useful information.  According to Paula Deen, May is National Strawberry Month.  Perfect!
That was all the extra prodding it took for me to mosey over to the local fruit stand to purchase some of those bite-size pockets of spring sweetness we all know and love.

I knew instantly what I wanted to do with them: Stawberries and Cream Scones.  It couldn't go wrong!

 Aren't they just calling you to eat them whole with lots of butter?  Luckily for you, you can in a few easy steps!

You will need:

2 cups flour
1 Tbs. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
2 Tbs. sugar
5 Tbs. unsalted butter, cold and cut into cubes
1 cup cream, as cold as possible
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 cup strawberries, sliced

First, set oven to 400 degrees and rinse strawberries well (I mostly added this step because I wanted to show you a picture of how pretty they looked, but it is important to clean produce properly before baking with it!).

After the berries have been rinsed, cut them into slivers and set aside.
Butter can be cut into cubes at this point.  Keeping the dough as cold as possible is what leads to the flakey goodness one looks for in a scone, so you might even keep the butter in the fridge until you need to use it.
Mix flour, baking powder, salt and sugar together in a medium sized mixing bowl.

Work cold butter into the flour mixture with a fork until it has a grainy texture and set aside.

Quickly add heavy cream and vanilla extract to a large mixing bowl.  Add sliced strawberries to the flour mixture. Once they have been evenly distributed throughout dry ingredients, slowly add dry mixture one scoop at a time to wet ingredients.  Mix dough lightly after each addition.  Don't over-mix though, otherwise the scones will get too dense and rubbery!

Once the dough has been mixed just enough to get the flour off the sides of the bowl, place the ball of dough onto a piece of wax paper and flatten it into a circle.  At this point, I cut mine into eight pieces, but I definitely could have cut them smaller.  Mine ended up being ginormous!

This photo puts my lack of ability to cut things proportionally on display.  Oh well.  I'll eat the little ones too!

Next, brush scones with a coat of heavy cream, then place them onto a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.  At this point you will be tempted to eat the scones raw.  Don't do it.  Fifteen minutes isn't that long in the grand scheme of things.  Make a phone call, check your e-mail, or paint your nails to distract yourself.  These bad boys are so much better warm and golden.

Place the baking sheet in the oven.  Timer should be set for 15-20 minutes, or however long it takes for the scones to become golden brown.

Like I said, I'm not one to brag about my grasp on proportion.  In my defense, the scones did spread further than I had anticipated, probably because I didn't keep my ingredients cold enough.  Don't make my mistake!

What better way to honor my favorite berry than to incorporate it into something sweet, delicious, and completely drool worthy?

I couldn't come up with better anything either.